===Geography
Poland is situated between the southern shores of the Baltic and the Carpathians in the south It borders Germany, Czech and Slovak republics, Russia, Lithuania, Bielarus and Ukraine (plus Sweden accross the sea).
It has varied landscape with 500 km of sandy beach on the Baltic; a belt of post-glacial lakes doted amongst rolling countryside; pretty boring flat middle; and hills and mountains (Carpathians and Sudenten Mountains) in the south.
=== People
The population of Poland consists of almost 40 million people; absolute majority of them Poles, 95% of them declaring Roman Catholicism as their religion. Polish religion is less of a spiritualy felt deep conviction and more a ritual and a social cohesive. Poles go to church, respect the Pope but then do what they want anyway. The picturesque value of Polish religiosity is quite high, especially in the countryside and during traditional feast days.
As opposed to the UK; you would find that the most civilised places are cities and the most primitive, old-fashioned and still grey and grimy are many small towns/villages. However, you are not terribly likely to come accross those places as the touristy ones have tarted up considerably and the old-fashionedness you might encounter would be of the nice and cosy rather than grey and grimy type.
=== Language
The language spoken in Poland is Polish, which is a Slavonic language, closely related to Czech and Slovak; and less so to Russian. They use latin alphabet with addition of few new letters and some double-letter combinations assigned to specific sounds.Your efforst to say anything in Polish will be greatly encouraged and appreciated as Poles are inordiantely proud of how difficult their language is.
=== Climate and when to go
The climate is a sea climate in the north/north-west to continental climate in the south. By British standars Poland has VERY cold winters - although January averages are hardly below zero; the actual temperatures often drop below -5; and -10 or less is not uncommon. So, go in the winter if you want to ski, otherwise don't. The summers are similar to the English and definitely warmer than Scottish. Springs and Autumns are bit like in England, with Spring things (flowers, leaves on trees etc) happening perhaps a month later and November/December being the most miserable months.
Most Poles take holiday during July and August and this is when the real season happens. If you want to avoid high season; June is not a bad month as days are long, temperatures already high, facilities open and everything still not so busy, still reasonably clean. First half of September isn't too bad either.
=== The fun factor: culture, food, drink, people
Poland has a long-standing tradition of intelectual and sublime mixed with profane and crude. And this is what you can expect when getting to know Poles and getting friendly with them. Sophisticated conversation - yes. Refined argument - yes. Absurd and black sense of humor strangely akin to the English one - yes. University lecturer eating chicken with her hands during a sit-down meal with a tablecloth and flower-decorated table - yes. Tolerance, freethinking, subversivenss and anarchy - yes. Nationalism, bigotry, underlying rasism - yes. Take your pick and enjoy yourself.
Sexual mores are getting laxer but for women are still significantly more restrained than in the UK.
Drinking is a national pastime and all sorts of spirits are drunk (but more of that in the food and drink paragraph). Please, don't try to drink a Pole under the table; especially when spirits are concerned.
Jazz, theatre and fine arts are something to look out for if you are a culture vulture.
Food and drink is something that Poland is good at, although you need to watch out for inconsistencies and unexpected dips in quality. Food is mainly pork based, but beef, game, poultry and freshwater fish are also commonly eaten. Polish cakes are good and the Habsburg influence in the South makes them even better there.
Poles drink lots of tea, more than any other European nation except for the Brits and Irish. It is almost always without milk, often with lemon and sugar. Coffee is also popular, traditionally made by pouring hot water over ground coffee in a cup. If you can cope with the dregs, the taste is better than instant, otherwise filter coffee and expresso are widely available.
Alcohol wise, vodka is the national drink and is drunk neat and in mixed drinks. Clear vodka comes in hundreds of brands and often you pay for fancy packaging and the brand name. The fancy packed ones make nice presents though. There is also a plethora of flavoured vodkas and herbal and fruit liquiers. They are all about 40% and some can be deceptively nice and easy to drink. Try Goldwasser (herby, sweet, warming liquer with tiny bits of gold floating in it) or Zubrwka (bison grass vodka, flavoured with this herb and best drunk in a mixture with apple juice known as "szarlotka" - loosely translated it means apple pie).
Poland produces a lot of lager, most of it acceptable and quite a lot pretty good. Zywiec, Tarta and Tyskie Krlewskie are my personal favourites.
Wine is expensive and not brilliant (no Polish wine) and definitely not worth it when going out.
=== Route ideas
For a weekend: go to Tatras (Zakopane); Krakw or Gdansk. OK, go to Warsaw if you have to, but Warsaw is not Poland and do not get discouraged.
For one week: fly to Krakow; do a tour of the south spending some time in Zakopane, some in Krakow and include Auschwitz OR Czestochowa OR Dunajec gorge rafting.
Alternative week: fly to Gdansk; spend some time there; go to the open-sea coast (Hel sandbar for example); include a day or two in Kaszubian lakes, visit to Malbork castle